Past Matters

By Ploy Radford

Museums, galleries and historic houses are treasure troves of items from the past. But how easy is it at these sites to unknowingly just walk straight past an object with an incredible story to tell? In this podcast series journalist Ploy Radford talks to the experts at different museums, galleries and historic houses about the most underrated objects in their collection, and unveils some fantastic facts.

Where to listen

Axminster carpet - Harewood House

When you're asked to imagine an iconic item of clothing the humble smock probably doesn't come to mind. However, in this episode, Dr Ollie Douglas, Curator at The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), convinces podcast host Ploy Radford as to the importance of the smock to English identity. Design, how we align stories with historical objects and ferrets all feature too.
As ever you can find pictures of the objects discussed on this podcast on PloyRadford.com.

In this episode, Zofia Matyjaszkiewicz, who is the Collections Assistant at the Roman Baths in Bath, tells Ploy Radford why a patera - a shallow libation bowl - is her underrated object at this world-famous site. This one object sets off a whole discussion about Roman lives and passions, how design can let us date an object, and the concept of pilgrimage.
You can view a picture of the patera on the website PloyRadford.com.

While the previous episode reminded listeners to look down when visiting historic houses, in a pleasing symmetry, this episode reminds them to look up. Podcast host Ploy Radford talks to Clare Gough, Director at Pitzhanger Museum & Gallery, about three beautiful ceilings in the building, touching on subjects of family fallouts, the use of light in architecture and clever restoration tricks along the way.
You can view pictures of the ceilings on PloyRadford.com.

This episode of Past Matters should encourage visitors to England's finest stately homes to look down as well as up for future visits, as Assistant Curator and Archivist at Harewood House, Beckie Burton, describes the significance of a grand Axminster carpet for social standing.
You can find a picture of the carpet on Ployradford.com.

To kick off season 2 of Past Matters, podcast host Ploy Radford talks to Dr Steven Parissien, CEO of Palace House, Newmarket, about a painting by Lucy Kemp-Welch - 'Colt hunting in the New Forest'. Kemp-Welch was a highly successful artist and illustrator - which was rare achievement for women in the late Victorian/Edwardian era - download this episode to hear more about this feminist trailblazer.
For copyright reasons, a photo of the painting cannot be shared via PloyRadford.com as usual, however you can view it here: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kemp-welch-colt-hunting-in-the-new-forest-n01649

As a special Christmas treat for you, my listeners, I have done something a bit different for this episode of Past Matters. Instead of asking a museum, gallery or historic house what their most underrated item is, I have instead asked historian Nicola Tallis, what historical object she thinks is underrated.
Her choice? The tomb of Margaret Beaufort at Westminster Abbey. So download this episode to hear more about this ultimate Tiger Mum. And, if you want a more in-depth analysis of her life, I recommend you buy a copy of Nicola’s latest book which is about Margaret and called ‘Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful life of Margaret Beaufort, Tudor Matriarch’.
As ever if you want to see a picture of the objects featured in my episodes, you can find them on my website, ployradford.com.
Enjoy and have a fabulous festive season!
Music credit: Jingle Bells Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Apsley House (also known as No.1 London) is the home of the Dukes of Wellington and for the first time has extended its opening times to the 22nd December 2019 and decorated the house in 1840s style Christmas decorations. Visitors can therefore experience this already beautiful building as it may have looked for a Georgian Christmas. It therefore seemed fitting to feature one of the Christmas special episodes here.
Jospehine Oxley, Keeper of the Wellington Collection, talks to Ploy Radford about a pair of easily overlooked torcheres, AND, as an extra Christmas bonus for listeners, she also discusses a rather more hard to miss object, if you keep listening to the end of the podcast.
Merry Christmas!
Music credit: Jingle Bells Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

'A Christmas Carol' has got to be one of the most famous Christmas books out there, so it seemed fitting to interview Dr Cindy Sughrue, Director of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, for one of the three 2019 Christmas specials of Past Matters.
With Christmas as a key marker in time, that directly precedes New Year, a time when we reflect back on the last 12 months, it seems even more fitting that Cindy chose two clocks in the museum as her underrated objects.
So when you've got that post-Christmas lunch food coma, why not sit back with a mug of mulled wine and give this episode a listen?
Music credit: Jingle Bells Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

It’s not all about the mammoth! Visitors to Ipswich Museum should also take note of three frightening looking taxidermied gorillas in the corner of the Victorian Natural History Gallery there. This group were the first gorillas the British public would have ever seen and the story of their expressions and poses provides a crucial insight into Victorian thinking and involve a swashbuckling fraudster desperate to be accepted by moralistic Victorian society.
You can view a picture of the gorillas on Ployradford.com.

Art, dogs, and a famous royal mistress... what more could you want from a podcast episode? To round off Season 1 of Past Matters, journalist Ploy Radford talks to Dr Mia Jackson, Curator of Decorative Arts at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, about a beautiful snuffbox depicting the beloved dogs and birds of Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV of France. Listen in to learn more about France's most famous mistress, the complicated art of porcelain making, and Mia's thoughts on the identity of the pampered pooches depicted.
You can view a picture of the object on Ployradford.com.

This episode of Past Matters if for fans of the Tudors, Anne Boleyn and anyone who has ever wanted to learn more about tapestries, royal signifiers of power and historical fashion. Or those who enjoy looking for the comic scenes hidden in art.
Download to hear Alison Palmer, Conservation and Engagement Assistant, at Hever Castle talk about three very beautiful and entertaining tapestries that are currently hanging at the former seat of the Boleyn family.
You can view pictures of the tapestries on PloyRadford.com or via Past Matters' social media channels.

This episode takes us to the Holburne Museum in Bath, which runs an excellent programme called Pathways to Wellbeing whereby they offer art classes focusing on the objects in the museum to people with mental health issues referred by the local NHS trust.
Listen on to hear Louise Campion, Education and Outreach Officer at the Holburne, discuss the history of an object that was used in a Pathways to Wellbeing art class and why it was a helpful talking point for the session participants.
You can find a picture of the object in question on Ployradford.com.

It can be very easy to walk by jewellery in an exhibition because these items tend to be very small. Don't skip by this episode of Past Matters though - in it journalist Ploy Radford talks to Colchester Museums' Senior Collections and Learning Curator Glynn Davis about some exquisite pieces of Roman jewellery that cast a new light on the inhabitants of Roman Colchester, show off the skill of the jewellers and gem cutters of the time and reveal more about Roman jewellery trends.
Pictures of the items can be viewed on Ployradford.com.

This episode is for those people who love animals and art because in it, I interview Jenny Hand, curator at Munnings Art Museum. Alfred Munnings was a famous 20th century impressionist painter, particular known for his paintings of horses. The objects Jenny picked though, are actually remarkably animal free - they are the sketchbooks from his years living in Cornwall. Listen in to learn more about a rather tragic period in Munnings life, and be reminded that he was rather good at depicting people and not just horses too.
To view pages from the sketchbooks, visit Ployradford.com.

Nestled among the reconstructed low-status farm buildings in Weald & Downland Living Museum is an almost fairytale-like structure. It wasn't the home of fairytale heroine though - it's actually an ornamental dairy from Regency England. Although, there are marks within it to ward off witches and evil spirits...
To learn more about this building which visitors have walked past but will only be able to enter in this summer, listen in to this episode of Past Matters with Weald & Downland Living Museum curator Julian Bell.
You can view a picture of the dairy on Ployradford.com

It would be very easy to walk by the small, understated self-portrait of Emma Brownlow at the Foundling Museum in London, but it would be a travesty to not pay more attention to someone whose works provide such an interesting insight into life at the UK's first ever children's charity - the Foundling Hospital. The daughter of a former foundling who then became the head of the charity meant Emma grew up with insider knowledge of what the hospital was like. She was also remarkable for being a female artist who supported her family with her work.
Guiding us through the life of Emma Brownlow and what her works tell us about Victorian morals and the life of foundlings at the hospital is Kathleen Palmer, Curator of Exhibitions and Displays at the Foundling Museum.

Thought furniture was boring? Nonsense! Come and listen to episode 2 of Past Matters and learn about secret compartments and boudoir calendars in this interview with Bob Entwistle, Conservation Officer at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich.
The object up for discussion is a Japanned Chinoiserie cabinet that dates from the early 1700s. You can view a picture of it on Ployradford.com.

Can weapons be art? How can you do armour - something worn to be admired from a 360 degree angle - justice in a museum? And did you know there were armour-making dynasties in renaissance Europe?
Download this first ever episode of Past Matters to hear Dr Tobias Capwell, Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection, London, explore these topics and more with journalist Ploy Radford. The Wallace Collection's underrated object at the centre of this discussion is a renaissance parade sallet (helmet) created by Kolman Helmschmid in Germany, circa. 1520.
For a picture of the item, visit Ployradford.com. Although of course, nothing beats going to see it in person.